


Equally Enamored

by RKG



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2020-10-17 00:13:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20611718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RKG/pseuds/RKG
Summary: Who is this new girl that claims to know Varian? And what will that mean for his and Cass's relationship?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> LIFE ATE ME!!! Sorry 'bout it! :P But finally, here is the 3rd installment of the Proven Useful series! AND A SHOUT OUT TO MY FRIEND KAI517 FOR HELPING ME COME UP WITH THE TITLE BECAUSE I LOST MY ORIGINAL TITLE AND SHE WAS SO KIND AND HELPED ME THINK OF A NEW ONE!!! Sweet gurl. <3 Also we're just gonna pretend most of s2 didn't happen la la la la....

Varian had worked late into the night, but it was finally done.

After hours, and hours, there lay the perfect stone... the Cassandrium stone that he was going to take to the jewelers to get put in a setting. Sure, he could've made the setting himself but he wanted this to be special. Besides, in spite of being a genius, he wasn't good at _everything_. Now he just had to choose the perfect moment, he checked his almanac.

"Cassandra has training on these days, so she'd be too tired afterward... and then there's all the weeding I have to do." he muttered the last bit distastefully. He still hadn't convinced his Dad to let him use his automatic weed puller ever since the minor fire. "It was just one teeny tiny fire." at least he had gotten some oil for the machine so the fires would be few and far between now... then there was all the harvesting and threshing he had to do.

"_What does a guy need to do to catch a break around here_?" he thought, sighing miserably.

He packed up the stone and went into town. He had a few things to trade the jeweler for the setting. He had a compound that would clean dirty metal settings, as well as a compound that could shine diamonds and other gemstones, he also had a little money... but not nearly enough to get the platinum setting that he wanted. He hoped he could work out a deal with the jeweler, he had never actually had a conversation with Corona's jeweler before. His Dad had, but that was many years ago, way before he was born. Swallowing hard, he opened the door to the jeweler's shop and slowly went in. The jeweler seemed to be busy, talking with another customer. He cleared his throat softly, "Um, Mr. Flint, is it?" he began.

Mr. Flint seemed to be busy with another customer, a girl about Varian's age who had strikingly orange-colored hair. He turned to glare at Varian through the jeweler's eye he was wearing. "Yes, boy?"

He may have been an adult, but Varian looked and felt rather young right at the moment. 

"I-I was wondering if I could take a look at your platinum settings?"

Mr. Flint seemed to brighten a bit at the mention of 'platinum' settings. "Ah yes, right this way."

The settings were indeed beautiful. "This one." said the jeweler proudly, "Is one that I designed myself. It's called 'the eye of Poseidon'." the setting had rolling waves scrolled across it with an eye in the middle of them. It was gorgeous but decidedly _not_ Cass.

"What about that one?" he asked.

The setting in question had feathers scrolled across it with an owl's head on top of the stone. _That_ was Cass.

"Ornament of Athena, the grey-eyed goddess. This symbol is said to give good luck in battle as well." chuckled the jeweler.

Varian grinned. "I'll take it! How much?!"

The jeweler raised an eyebrow, his demeanor cooling somewhat "Those who have to ask cannot generally afford my designs."

Varian shook his head. "Oh, n-no sir! I... can afford it! I promise!" he assured the jeweler. "After all, I am the royal alchemist." he added, hoping that would carry a little clout.

"So you are." this caused Mr. Flint to eye him with even more skepticism. 

"_What did I even say_?" he thought, puzzled at the jeweler's sudden coolness toward him. Did he not think he had enough money? He didn't have the entire amount on him, he hadn't been working as the royal alchemist for long enough but undoubtedly he could definitely get it soon. 

"What would you be needing this setting for?" pried Flint.

"I-I'm asking the woman I love for her hand in marriage." 

Flint blinked. "Certainly, you could do it without the ornament of Athena. This is a battle trinket!" chuckled the jeweler.

"She's Corona's Lord Commandress." said Varian. "I think it fits her perfectly."

Flint stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Right you are, but I cannot let you have it."

"Wait, wha--?"

"No, I'm sorry. You'll simply have to find a different jeweler. Good day, sir!" and with that, he booted both Varian and the orange-haired girl out the door.

Varian did a double-take. "What was that about?"

"I... don't know." said the girl, who began looking him up and down as if she recognized him. Suddenly she smiled and enveloped him in a hug. He did a double-take and pushed the strange girl off of him.

"I-I'm sorry Miss, but... who are you?"

"Don't you remember me, Varian?"

He looked at her and wracked his brain but for his very life, he could not remember this strange girl with carrot-orange hair. Had he ever even seen her before?

"Did you used to live in Old Corona?" he asked, hoping that maybe something about her would jog his memory, because otherwise this was going to be rather awkward. Varian had a good memory, a great memory, but this girl he couldn't place at _all_, and yet she seemed to know him.

"No, silly! Mrs. Lundgren's home for troubled youth!"

_That_ was why he didn't remember her. He had wanted to forget about everything he had experienced there. After being jailed for awhile and then being put in, what some referred to as 'baby jail', it wasn't something he wanted committed to his memory. Mrs. Lundgren was a stern old woman whom, he was convinced, hated children or anyone under the age of 25 really. 

"I-I'm sorry I.. don't really remember you." he said apologetically.

The girl looked hurt. "I... I suppose not. It's been quite awhile ago. But we used to be the best of friends!"

"We were?"

Varian remembered his time at Mrs. Lundgren's quite differently. Yes, he had wanted to block out most of it but when you naturally have a good memory its very hard to do. He was thinking that he had had one, maybe two interactions with the girl at most before he was shipped off to be apprenticed and that's why he didn't remember her, but apparently there was a whole chunk of his memory that was missing! 

"Yeah, don't you remember? You told me all about the science expo, and how you had made that new element."

It did seem like something he would've bragged about back then, he nodded politely but on the inside was wracking his brain as to what this girl's name was! 

"And then we'd sit under the stars and you'd tell me about all the constellations and Mrs. Lundgren thought we were idiots for thinking that stars had names."

Again, that did seem like something that he would've possibly happened, but why didn't he remember that? It seemed _fun_.

"And when you had to leave, I was so heartbroken..." she turned away.

"I-I'm sorry. Wh-What is your name?"

"Ingrid." she sniffled. 

Again, nothing rang any bells.

"I'm sorry, Ingrid, I really don't--"

Her eyes glittered with tears and his voice died in his throat.

"But, you know, I-I really wasn't in a good place back then! There's a lot of things from that time that I don't remember." he quickly covered. "Or... don't care to, really."

"I-It's okay, Varian." she sniffled. "Y-You were asking about a ring?"

"Yeah, yeah I was." he grinned, suddenly glad that the topic was shifting away from that horrible time in his life. "I'm about to propose."

The girl did a double-take, "To who?"

"Lady Cassandra, Lord Commandress of Corona." he said proudly.

"Well, well, I see you've certainly done _well_ for yourself." commented Ingrid, in a tone that he wasn't quite sure what to make of. Was that jealousy he detected? Why would she be jealous of Cassandra, as far as he knew she had never even _met_ Cassandra! 

"I like to think so." he replied, not missing a beat.

"You certainly don't wait around, do you?" said Ingrid wistfully, then she shook her head. "I... should be going. It was nice seeing you again, Varian." her voice trembled on the last note. It made him feel bad that he didn't remember her.

"Ingrid, hey.. uh, I'm sorry. Maybe we could grab lunch sometime?"

Ingrid blinked. "Y-You mean it?"

"Sure. I mean... you're an old friend after all."

"Oh..." she blushed, looking as if the world had just opened up. "Thank you. Can I meet you here tomorrow?"

"Sure. How long are you in town for?"

"Oh, I just moved here. I was actually hoping to run into you. I had some alchemy-related questions for you."

He blinked. "Alchemy-related? Have you started practicing alchemy?"

"Oh... just a little. I actually want to make it into more of a business venture. I want to incorporate it into my soap-making."

"You make soap?"

Ingrid nodded. "Yeah! And I have this one guy who literally just bought my _entire_ stock! Really gorgeous too, tall, brown-eyes..."

"Eugene Fitzherbert?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Just sounds like something he would do. He's Prince Consort, you know."

"I--REALLY?!" cried Ingrid.

That was strange, who in their right mind didn't know that Eugene was Prince Consort.

"You didn't know that?"

"No, I'm not from around here." she shook her head. 

"I... see." she had to be from a pretty far-off Kingdom if she didn't know that, because almost everyone within the Seven Kingdoms _did_ know that detail. Then again, not everyone had _met_ Eugene up close and personal so maybe that's what she meant.

"See you tomorrow?" she said brightly.

"Sure... see you tomorrow." he faltered.

Maybe a night of thinking about it would jog his memory - just who _was_ this girl?!


	2. Interlude: Just a roll in the hay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cass and Varian have a little barnyard fun ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE, I SWEAR TO GOD!!! XDDDDD I'm just having fun guys, don't hate me!!!

Cass had just gotten off from a hard day of training and while she was tired, she was nowhere near tired enough to call it a day. She also didn't want to go back to the castle just yet because she was pretty sure that Raps would rope her into another activity that she didn't want to do. Sure, she loved her best friend but sometimes she just needed someone who had a bit more of an edge to them. Rapunzel was sweet and sunshiny all the time and while she did appreciate it, Cass often liked to have a real conversation, about normal, non-royal things.

And sometimes she just wanted to have a conversation that didn't require any talking. 

There was something to be said for when you got home at the end of the day and you had someone to take you in their arms and just give you sheer bliss. That's what Cassandra was after, and she knew exactly where to find it. As she rode up to the gigantic farmhouse she looked around to see if anyone was about and it looked like aside from a single lantern light in one of the barns, that she sincerely hoped meant that the one person that she wanted to see was there and not his _Father_. That would be awkward.

Fortunately, she saw him standing there next to a haybale, _Varian_. His back was turned to her, he was wearing a faded blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, but was minus his trademark apron, probably because he didn't think he needed it since he wasn't working directly with chemicals. She approached him silently and grabbed him suddenly around the waist in a hold that would have been aggressive had she been trying to attack him. However, instead she surprised him by planting a sensual kiss on the back of his neck. 

"Hey Tiger."

Varian let out the breath he had been holding.

"Cassie-baby, hey there." He turned to face her, returning her kiss, making her weak in the knees. Cass mewled softly, _this_ is what she had been wanting, soft, languid kisses and a firm hand on her lower back, pulling her in. 

"How have you been?" she asked between kisses. 

"Mm… bored, mind wandering, glad you came by because you've been distracting me all day."

She giggled, "Have I now?"

"Can't get any work done with you running through my mind all day, _darlin_'." There it was, that farmboy accent that made her insides quiver and wilt. She ran her hands over his chest and shoulders, causing him the groan softly. It was just the reaction she wanted, she craved his moans just as much as she craved his touch and right now her cravings were out of control. 

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked, chuckling. 

"All work and no play makes the Lord Commandress a dull lady." Purred Cass, stroking the back of his neck, kissing him. Varian moaned, this is the kind of thing he had been wanting all day. It had been a few days since they had seen each other, Cass was often busy with royal duties and didn't get a chance to come by that often but when she did it was paradise and that's where he longed to be right now. 

"As you wish, milady." He murmured, deepening their kiss as his hands roamed her body. Cass groaned in pleasure as she tugged on the ties of his shirt, pulling him down on the haybale with her. He chuckled. "You really want to play, don't'cha darlin'?" 

“Yes.” she growled, biting his ear, forcing him on top of her. He made his way down her neck, leaving little love-bites as he went, love-bites that were sure to show up the next day in places that she couldn’t exactly hide. Whatever, what she did on her own time was her business and if that something happened to be _him_ then so be it. They were in love, and at the moment she really didn’t care who knew. 

Of course, that sentiment was about to be put to the test.

~*~*~*~

Quirin looked out the window and saw that that automatic plow invention that he had touted so fiercely earlier had decided to hang up and now, instead of doing nice neat rows like it was built to do, had plowed a six foot deep burrow in the north field. Quirin cringed. When was the boy going to learn that even though this advancing ‘technology’ as he called it made things swifter, that they still needed human supervision! He saw the lantern light out in the barn, rolled up his sleeves and trudged out. It was almost dusk, he knew that sometimes Varian got a little bit lazy when it came dinner time because after dinner he would usually go down to that confounded basement lab of his and work on experiments until odd-hours. Well this time he was going to have to take that automatic plow back down to the basement and lick his calf over because Quirin expected a _plow_, not a post-hole digger! 

As he trudged out to the barn, he caught a glimpse of a large brown draft horse tied to one of the fence posts. “Fidella?” he asked. The horse nickered at him. He couldn’t be sure, sometimes Cassandra used that horse, other times Rapunzel did. If it was indeed Rapunzel then no doubt she was here on official, Royal business because after all, Varian had become the Royal Alchemist and sometimes he was called upon for royal duties. However, this wouldn’t take more than a second and it wasn’t like he was interrupting anything life-threatening, they hadn’t had any real threats in _awhile_. 

So without announcing himself, Quirin strode into the barn, “VARIAN--AAAHH!!!”

Nothing could have prepared Quirin for what he saw.

Varian and the royal handmaiden, Cassandra, were locked in a rather _passionate_ embrace on a haybale.

“DAD!” 

Cassandra screamed, trying unsuccessfully to hide her face.

Quirin turned his back to them, “VARIAN, THE AUTOMATIC PLOW HAS DUG A 6 FOOT DEEP HOLE IN THE NORTH FIELD! I SUGGEST YOU GO SEE ABOUT IT!” 

“But I’m a little--”

“I see that you’re _busy_,” said Quirin accusingly. “But I wanted my fields _plowed_, not a _grave_ to be dug!” 

Varian sighed. “Alright, Dad…” he gave Cassandra an apologetic look and mouthed the words “_Sorry_.” at her before trudging out of the barn dejectedly.

“I-I’m just gonna... “ Cass pointed toward the door and bolted awkwardly. 

“_Kids_.” sighed Quirin, rolling his eyes.


End file.
